Happy Imbolc! Snow has returned so perhaps it’s not quite spring yet despite the Gaelic tradition. Here’s the news in Oregon beer for Wednesday, February 1. As usual, I’ll be periodically updating this post throughout the day with the latest news, so check back often for updates. If you have news to share, please contact me and I can get that updated as well.

Ninkasi Brewing (Eugene) is introducing a new beer to their year-round flagship series, Pacific Rain Pale Ale. From the press release: “Pacific Rain, a Northwest Pale Ale brewed with lava-filtered water from the McKenzie River and a band of four flavorful hops, joins Ninkasi’s year-round Flagship Series this February. Available in 12-ounce 6-packs and draft, Pacific Rain is a flavorful Northwest Pale Ale whose foundation is built on quality water. Brewed with water from Oregon’s McKenzie River, the water undergoes natural filtration through lava rock before reaching the brewery, making for the perfect brewing ingredient. Paired with four distinguished hops—Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic, and Nugget—this Northwest Pale Ale captures the Pacific Northwest’s love of hops while remaining crisp and easy to sip.”

The Salem Winter Brewfest begins today at the Capitol Mall, kicking off at 6pm this evening until 10pm, then 4 to 10pm Thursday, and 11am to 11pm Friday and Saturday. “The organizers of the ONG Hoopla and The Bite & Brew of Salem present a winter event that brings together what makes the Willamette Valley and Salem a great place to live. Join your friends in a giant heated tent for 100+ beers and ciders on tap along with great live music and a variety of food. Price of admission includes taste tickets and souvenir glass.” Incidentally, they are advertising admission today as free, then $10 on Thursday and $20 on Friday and Saturday.

Culmination Brewing (Portland) has the bottle release party of their 2016 Peche tonight at Beer Belly: “Come Join us at Beer Belly Portland, located at 1205 SW Washington Street, for our release of our 2016 Peche bottles. This beer is a Flanders style blonde with peaches and is rich in flavors of Oak, Peach, Tropical Fruit Esters, & has a Mild Brett Funk. It is 6.5% ABV and comes in 500ml bottles. This beer is the third beer to come out of our foeder and we used 900 pounds of peaches from local farmers to create this delicious offering.” The party is from 5 to 8pm.

Portland’s Ecliptic Brewing is hosting a Friends of Family Farmers Fundraiser all day today, a good cause you should stop in for. “10% of the day’s sales at Ecliptic will be donated to Friends of Family Farmers to help us keep Oregon a great place to live and farm. FoFF staff and board will be at Ecliptic Brewing from 5-7pm to share information about their work on behalf of Oregon’s socially responsible farmers and our other upcoming events.”

Plank Town Brewing (Springfield): Tonight from 6 to 8pm is their latest installment of “Tanked with the Brewers” featuring Russian Imperial Stout: “This Wednesdsay, February 1st we will be releasing our Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout. A tasting of this brew, along with other barrel-aged tastings will cost $10 and this includes a bottle of barrel-aged goodness for you to take home. We’ll start tasting at 6pm. Bottles of the Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout, From Russia With Stout, will be available for purchase at a discount Wednesday only, along with additional bottle discounts on all barrel-aged 22oz bottles! This luscious brew was a collaboration with The Bier Stein. It’s deep and complex with notes of vanilla and chocolate. You will only be able to find bottles of From Russia With Stout at Plank Town or The Bier Stein!” As the name of the event implies, the brewers will be on hand to chat about the beer.

Bazi Bierbrasserie (Portland): Today they are hosting their fifth annual “No Wheat? No Sweat” gluten free drink and dining experience from 6:30 to 9pm, with a four-course menu. “Got a new beverage resolution? Bazi, Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider and Merchant Duvin importers are teaming up for the 5th Annual No Wheat? No Sweat. – a gluten free dining experience. During the seminar, participants will get to: Learn about gluten-free beverage options; Choose between a beer or cider / food pairing option; and Experience some of the world’s top ranked gluten-free beverages. Walk-away with recipes, resources, and a souvenir Green’s beer glass. Cost: $35 per person, gratuity included.”

Belmont Station (Portland) has a few things going on today:

• Stout Month kicks off for all 28 days of February: “Help us celebrate “Stout Month” all month long as we turn four of our taps to the dark side throughout FeBREWary. We will be tapping stouts and imperial stouts from such great breweries as Alesong, Firestone Walker, Sound, New Holland, and others.”
• Founders Brewing hits the shelves today: “As a warm up to our Meet the Brewmaster event on the February 7, Founders Brewing, a Michigan-based craft brewery, will be hitting the shelves early with an array of favorites, including All Day IPA, Centennial IPA, Dirty Bastard, Porter, Rubaeus and more!”
• Ruse Brewing will be in the house from 5 to 8pm with the bottle release of their Lily Patch Tiger: “Lily Patch Tiger is a hoppy saison “time lapse” as a base, aged in pinot gris barrels from tartan winery for six months on our house brettanomyces strain, then blended and bottle conditioned. 6.3% ABV.” Ruse founder and brewer Shaun Kalis will be on hand to talk about the beer, and Belmont will also have bottles of Ruse’s 2016 Kriek on sale.

Bend’s Platypus Pub is welcoming Hood River’s PFriem Family Brewers this evening from 6 to 8pm for a tasting (which sounds like it was a bit up in the air with the snow): “They made it! The kegs showed up late last night & the Humans that brought them said it was one hell of a trip over the Mt from Hood River. A Double IPA and a 6bbl of something amazing. Tasting starts at 6 runs to 8 pm full kitchen, come have a hot meal and some tasty beers then meet the crew from pFriem Brewing.”

Imperial Bottle Shop (Portland) is kicking off Stout Month with Epic Brewing’s Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout tasting/party today from 4 to 9pm: “Kick off stout month in style with a sampling of some very special variants of Epic Brewing Company’s Big Bad Baptist stout, which was recently named the best non-Oregon beer by over twenty experts of the Oregon beer community in The New School : Beer, Cider, News Best of 2016.” They’ll have three Big Bad variants, as well as Los Locos Mexican Lager and Brainless on Raspberries on tap for palate cleansers.

10 Barrel Brewing (Bend): They’ve got a few new beers out recently:

• They announced Code 24 10th Anniversary Pale Ale yesterday: “Code 24 is based off the first beer 10 Barrel ever created, 10 years ago! We’ve made 4 different variations of this beer that we’ll be releasing throughout Spring. First up is Old School, made with delicious Cascade and Zythos hops. You’ll be able to try this batch now through February.”
• And a press release went out today detailing their two new specialty bottled beers: “Part of 10 Barrel’s specialty series, Honey Rye Barley Wine comes from our Portland head brewer, Whitney Burnside (who is, impressively, only 29 years old). What started as a test batch in the 10 Barrel Portland pub, Honey Rye Barley Wine, is barrel-aged in rye barrels from High West in Utah, is full of rye whiskey aromas, plums, raisins and a hint of dark cherries. It clocks in at 12% ABV.”
• And: “The latest release from 10 Barrel’s Fancy Beer Series is Huckle Bière Grand Cru. Aged over two-and-a half years, then finished in Pinot barrels, this Belgian-style wild sour ale was brewed by 10 Barrel brewmaster Jimmy Seifrit. Using two types of wild yeasts, young and older sour beer, and huckleberries grown in the Northwest, this 7.4% ABV beer is quite a sensory experience.”

Rogue‘s Portland Eastside Pub (formerly the Green Dragon) has their Green Dragon Brew Crew release today starting at 5pm, featuring Belma SHIPA: “This week’s Green Dragon Brewing release is a 100% Belma hopped IPA. This IPA has refreshing tropical fruits, kiwi juice, resin and floral candy aromas. The flavors mirror the aroma, with supporting whole wheat grist character and a crisp finish. Overall, light and refreshing and not too bitter.”

Fort George Brewery (Astoria): Their Stout Month kicks off today, and they have a special limited bottled stout release: “The Barrel Master, Dave Coyne, shows off the latest Sweet Virginia Series bottle – Matryoshka with cocoa nibs. This Russian imperial aged in Four Roses Bourbon barrels releases today at 4:30pm outside the Lovell Taproom. It’s an ultra small-batch brewery exclusive, on tap now for Stout Month, and one of the sixty-three specialty stouts pouring at Festival of Dark Arts.”

Salem Ale Works is upgrading! “We are excited to announce that we will be moving our brewery and taproom to a larger facility located at 2315 25th St SE! The new location is expected to open in the second quarter of 2017. After a little over a year of searching for a new location that fit our needs, we are thrilled to have found the right fit and to expand our footprint in the Salem brewery scene. We are stoked for the future and look forward to sharing it with the craft beer fans of Salem. Stay tuned for more details and updates!”